Carsten M. Syvertsen

The purpose of this article is to illustrate how management consulting firms can achieve economic growth through operating locally within an international network using the business federation as a new organizational form. Within the business federation, a local office gains access to resources through an extreme form of delegation where top management does not delegate to local offices, but rather gives local offices the permission to deal with tasks, because it is most efficient. The auhor uses top management consulting firms operating in Norway as the empirical setting operationalizing the business federation through a building block system. The research shows support for the claim that firms move closer to the business federation as over time from 1982 until 1998. It is indicated that firms operating close to principles of the business federation achieve stronger economic growth. The research contradicts claims found in the academic literature that the partnership model supports economic growth.

Keywords: top management consulting, the business federation as a new organizational form, economic growth, Norwegian longitudinal study.
JEL Classification: L1

The author introduces the regional-globalized organizational design model suited for business schools wishing to play leading roles in research in the global knowledge economy. Professors were interviewed and secondary sources were used in the data collection process. In the time period lasting from 2010 until 2016. Chaos theory is used to illustrate the relevance of the regional-global model analyzing six business schools in China, Europe and the USA. The research suggests that the sampled business schools have become more research-focused in the time period the research took place due to a more complex and turbulent business environment. This is particularly the case for the elite business schools Harvard Business School, IESE Business School and China-Europe Business School. The research suggests that tailor making of research efforts can help business schools in their struggle for success, using elements from the crafting society as a benchmark.